18 Bands That Played SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (and That You’ve Still Never Heard Of)

Saturday Night Live is wrapping up another hit season, with Mick Jagger hosting the final show. This has everyone wondering if he’ll be the only musical guest. You can be sure he won’t be joined by any unknowns. The days are long gone when SNL hosted adventurous acts. Nobody shows up on the SNL soundstage without established hits or lots of hype. But there was a time when SNL presented plenty of WTF musical moments. (That was back before “WTF” existed.) As SNL finishes their 37th season, let’s look back at musical guests who couldn’t even use the show to become one-hit wonders…

Esther Phillips (November 8, 1975)

The Idlers (February 28, 1976)

Donnie Harper and the Voices of Tomorrow (January 29, 1977)

Brick (April 9, 1977)

Libby Titus (October 15, 1977)

[ 18 photos ]18 Bands That Played SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (and That You’ve Still Never Heard Of)

<strong>Esther Phillips</strong> (November 8, 1975)

Esther Phillips was classic cool when she showed up with Candice Bergen on the fourth-ever SNL. The veteran songstress was also in the midst of a career revival with a disco version of the old standard “What a Difference a Day Makes.” She should be better known than she is. And since there hadn’t been a musical guest on SNL the week before, you could say Esther started the weekly tradition. [HEAR HER!]